Keep burglars at bay this festive season

Empty houses and piles of Christmas presents make December and January the months you’re most likely to be a burglary victim.

Homes across the UK are full of presents while families make plans to visit friends and relatives over the festive period. But the increased number of expensive items in our home and the longer hours they are left empty provides a perfect opportunity for thieves.

But there is now a growing number of devices that can help in protecting your house and everything inside it.

Security-boosting devices include smart lighting systems that mimic your typical house hold lighting usage pattern while you’re away, automated smoke-releasing generators, cameras with facial and number plate recognition, and sensors that learn your behaviour and notify you when something out of the ordinary happens. All of these can be linked to your mobile phone via integrated smart home controllers.

Simon Mathieson of Finite Solutions North West advises: “Nothing concerns us more than the fear of someone breaking into our own home, yet very few homeowners know about an intruder until they are already inside. A simply burglar alarm system is no longer a good enough warning for homeowners or deterrent for burglars as research commissioned by GoCompare last year concluded that over three quarters of Brits ignore burglar alarm sirens on neighbours’ homes.

“A bespoke smart home solution can provide the benefits of intelligent entertainment and lighting but it can also provide peace of mind. It allows you to see, hear and check on your home at all times and warns you of the presence of an intruder as soon as they step foot in your garden.

“A good integrated home security system can be automated to arm/disarm itself through sensors inside and outside the house. Smart home systems also provide a view of the CCTV cameras and door entry systems, allowing you to remotely open the door and let people in.

“An exterior perimeter heat or mass based detection system surrounding a property will warn whenever an intruder steps foot in your grounds by displaying CCTV footage on your TV screens and giving you early warning of a problem before the intruder ever reaches the property.

The smart integration of security systems also extends beyond in-house control. Thanks to the latest bespoke security solutions, our clients are able to monitor their home security remotely. Dedicated iPhone and iPad apps offer access to the home automation alarm system remotely and this provides an extra level of security and peace of mind by instantly displaying CCTV images on your phone and activating lighting inside and outside the property to give the impression you are at home and even giving you the ability to “shout out” to intruders via exterior speakers to inform them police have been called.”